Delhi gang-rape: Push through police reform immediately if we are to prevent more rapes and control crime

Those of us who gave 'all of ourselves' to police service will say it was preventable - if basic law and order measures are implemented, be it in a cosmopolitan city or anywhere else.

BY: Kiran Bedi

Was the horrific gang rape of a young medical student, now battling for her life, a preventable crime?

Those of us who gave 'all of ourselves' to police service will say it was preventable - if basic law and order measures are implemented, be it in a cosmopolitan city or anywhere else.

Indian women suffer hugely from entirely avoidable threats to their safety and well-being. Their mobility and socio-economic growth are being restricted because of the simple fact that public officials are not carrying out their basic duties. And the truly unfortunate part is that these officials are going unpunished - because their supervisors themselves either do not know the hows and whys of governance and policing or have misplaced priorities.

The Delhi gang rape has shown where such an attitude on the part of our public officials has led us. It is time we spoke up and said that where we find ourselves as a nation is unacceptable - that women in this country must no longer pay the price of official negligence, ignorance and callousness. Safety and security are their fundamental human rights. And our public officials must now state what measures they intend to put in place - and what they intend to do in the long term - to ensure such heinous crimes do not happen again.

First, the immediate measures: We must have increased visibility of police personnel on the roads, particularly during those times of the day when women are most vulnerable. The police leadership must also mobilise and utilise all possible community resources with the support of civil administration. These resources - essential for augmenting meagre police manpower - are: recruited civil defence volunteers, NCC/NSS personnel, special police officers, citizen wardens, citizen voluntary forces and the home guard.

These police/community joint patrols, supported by police control room vans, or even a motor-cycle patrol fitted with wireless communication, can position themselves at identified vulnerable areas and do random physical checks of automobiles for 'crimes on wheels'. Such regular checks would have several positive effects. They would certainly deter crime, for one, with the larger message travelling by word of mouth and the media. With the chances of criminals being caught rising, it would enhance confidence among women in public spaces. It would also stop the blame game between the police and the people, as volunteer citizens would be an integral part of the patrols.

If such ghastly crimes still occur despite the police's boosted visibility, the chances of their being detected and evidence against the perpetrators being found would be greater because of the involvement of citizen volunteers. The resulting speedy arrests would serve to both restore the public's trust and deter criminals.

This sort of cooperation between the police and the community is the need of the hour. An added benefit is that it will add very little to police budgets. What it will require, however, is good police leadership and effective coordination between the police and civil administration. Such cooperation is the cornerstone of good policing.

It will also naturally call for regular reviews which will be akin to transparent and collective police-community assessments. This sort of social audit of police performance will open up the workings of the police, which remain far too opaque to date. It can pave the way for collective thinking, strategising, participation of youth, sense of joint res-ponsibility, mutual understanding, debate, reform - perhaps even community contributions to meet certain essential needs such as sponsored installation of mounted or mobile cameras.

If this sort of broad synergy is not put in place, isolated measures, however well-intentioned, will not yield the desired results. If it is implemented, on the other hand, it can be the foundation on which other best practices are later built.

As far as long-term measures go, perhaps the most substantial and essential police reform - hanging fire since Independence - is the insulation of police functioning from day-to-day political interference in recruitment, postings, transfers, arrests, investigations, prosecutions and the like.

As well, the Supreme Court judgment of 2006 - where key areas have been suggested in the selection of the chief of police, director-generals of police, ins-pector-generals of police, senior superintendents of police and station house officers - is pending compliance. It also includes the separation of law and order duties from investigation.

The sad truth is that the Indian police leadership - barring a few exceptions - does not feel accountable to the common man. This is because senior officers are appointed by politicians in power based on 'acceptability' to bureaucrats or politicians, not merit. Complying with the SC judgment and standardising selection - as well as insulating the police from political pressure - will go a long way towards rectifying this.

Only when this happens will the police leadership be able to tell the rank and file that they are collectively responsible for people like the girl in Delhi - that their duty is not just to protect VIPs but also the common man.

Indian women suffer from avoidable threats to their safety and well-being. Their mobility and socio-economic growth are being restricted because public officials are not carrying out their basic duties